I need your help

As some of you know, and more of you need to know, the Presidential Advisory Committee is planning to recommend a total ban on the sale of ALL ivory in the United States. Not a ban on new import, but a ban on ALL IVORY (this includes mammoth, boar, warthog, etc) in ALL FORMS (jewelry, knives, pistol grips, musical instruments, etc).

I DO NOT SUPPORT THIS.

I know some of you are thinking "yay for banning ivory" thinking that it will help save elephants. That's really not the case. Banning ivory that was harvested generations ago, ivory that comes from extinct animals, and ivory from non-threatened sources like warthogs, does NOTHING to help elephant. Enforcing this will take funds away from stopping the killing of elephants AT THE SOURCE IN AFRICA.

On top of that, it'll put people like me out of business. Do you like what I do? So do I, I'd hate to lose the ability to do what I do.

PLEASE join me in emailing ACWT@FWS.GOV before December 28th when they file their report. I'll copy a letter below here that has been posted on the engraving forum. If nothing else, copy and paste it, sign your name on it, and sent it off. Or modify it to suit you. Or write your own. But please I am asking for your help. I love elephants, but banning the sale of pre-existing ivory is NOT helping them.

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Dear Advisory Committee,

I stand against a total ban of all ivory sales in the US.

As called for in the Presidential Executive Order I ask that the recommendations continue to allow for "legal and legitimate commerce”.

The ivory market in the US is stable and /or declining, and the seizure records indicate that a high proportion of the seizures made were personal effects lacking the correct paperwork, not the “blood tusks “ spoken about in the media. The Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) analysis indicated that the amount of ivory (by weight) seized annually has not increased in recent years. WE are not the consumers of the poached ivory. Therefore banning ivory sales within the US will do nothing to save the remaining world population of elephants.

CITES MIKE report (Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants) September 2013 report, page 64 analysis states "Africa's elephant populations are managed sustainably" and that in 2013 the quota for permits for legal elephants was 1350 animals. There is legal trade that can be monitored with DNA testing and permitting. Enforcing and policing a ban would use funds that should be used to support the ban on imports already in effect.

I fully support the CITES rules, closing international borders to elephant ivory trade, a law already in effect that should be fully supported and enforced. I stand against a total ban of all ivory commerce within our United States borders, a decision that would be an enforcement nightmare. Like prohibition it will cause a new wave of illicit commerce where a legitimate one now exists. Museums, antique dealers, collectors, artisans and individual citizens have invested in a legal and valuable material. Sanctioned trade in ivory that is legal (culled and pre-ban) and comes from unthreatened sources (mammoth, boar, warthog, antique and recycled products) can pose no possible threat to elephant herds in the wild.

I believe our mutual goals are the same and a solution can be reached. Please keep the focus where it belongs. To increase the elephant population the killing must be stopped in Africa and at its borders.

Respectfully Submitted,

Baby, it's cold outside!

Snow is still such a novelty in my life that I think it's incredibly fun and exciting.  There are a couple snow days here during the winter.  It'll be mud before you know it... so I enjoyed it today, and walked allll the way down the hill to the creek and back up.  And holy moly that's a lot harder in snow than it is in normal conditions!  ;-)  I earned that slice of cake tonight!

Yesterday afternoon:

This morning:

And then I went hiking with the big camera...

This evening:

cottage scrimshaw

Oops, I never posted the finished piece!  Here it is!  This is an illustration of the Hansel Cottage in Carmel, California.  It is 2 inches in diameter.  This was a custom piece.

2013 Christmas cards!!!

I know, I know, who wants to think about Christmas when it's not even Thanksgiving yet!  Well... it is the time to order Christmas cards!  I will offer the same images as last year (for those of you who didn't get them!) AND a brand new one too!

Price: $24.95 per set of 10 cards (CA residents, with sales tax that's gonna be $26.82).  Flat rate $6.50 shipping even if you order a few sets!

Payment: PayPal, check, money order, whatever, it's all good.  To pay with PayPal, use the shopping cart or tally it up and send payment to katherineplumer@gmail.com  Checks and money orders should be made payable to Katherine Plumer and sent to Katherine Plumer, PO Box 166, Oak Run, CA 96069

Orders must be received by Monday December 2nd so I can get them printed and shipped to you.  Thanks!!

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Dog Christmas Cards
Set of 10 for $19.95 plus tax and shipping

inside greeting says "Merry Christmas"

white envelopes included

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Rosecomb Christmas Cards

Set of 10 for $19.95 plus tax and shipping

inside greeting says "Merry Christmas"

white envelopes included

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Four Chickens Christmas Cards

Set of 10 for $19.95 plus tax and shipping

inside greeting says "Merry Christmas"

white envelopes included

a few scrimshaw pieces on Mother of Pearl

Mother of Pearl "MOP" is a great deal more difficult to engrave than ivory.  It's a hard and brittle surface, and is dis-inclined to want to have a lot of engraved marks very close to each other without the surface just sort of chipping off.  But it IS rather beautiful!  :-)

"Cloud Runner"
(Gypsy Horse)
scrimshaw on Mother of Pearl
7/8 by 2.5 inches
This piece won third place at the Art at the Classic Show (Draft Horse Classic, September 2013)

Koi pendant
scrimshaw on Mother of Pearl with sterling silver setting
15/16 by 7/8 inch

Swan pendant
multicolor scrimshaw on Mother of Pearl with sterling silver setting
1.25 inches diameter